With the first 100 days of the Trump administration just underway, President Trump has already taken steps to fulfill his campaign promises and renegotiate or withdraw from various U.S. trade deals, including the...more
3/31/2017
/ Cross-Border Transactions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
WTO
On March 7, U.S. authorities settled criminal and civil proceedings involving Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation and certain of its affiliates ("ZTE"). ZTE is the largest publicly traded telecommunications...more
3/17/2017
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Export Controls ,
Iran Sanctions ,
National Security ,
North Korea ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Technology ,
Telecommunications ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
ZTE
On December 2, President Obama, acting under the Exon-Florio law, blocked the planned acquisition by China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP ("Fujian Grand Chip"), a Chinese investment fund, of the U.S. operations of...more
12/9/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defense Production Act ,
Exon-Florio ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Policy ,
Germany ,
Investment Funds ,
National Security ,
Obama Administration ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector ,
Transition Team ,
Trump Administration
For businesses that work with the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), two important rules for safeguarding certain categories of sensitive information and reporting cyber incidents were recently finalized, updating the...more
Even today, most companies—even technology companies—do not think they have information that the U.S. Government wants or needs, particularly as it might relate to a national security investigation. The reality is that as...more
10/14/2016
/ Credit Reporting Agencies ,
ECPA ,
Electronic Communications ,
FBI ,
Financial Institutions ,
Information Requests ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
National Security ,
National Security Letters (NSLs) ,
Patriot Act ,
Telecommunications ,
Terrorist Threats
Crucial Points -
- The U.S. government has, by and large, left in place its embargo generally forbidding U.S. companies, citizens and residents, and others in the United States to engage in Iran-related...more
On December 30, 2015, DoD published an interim rule, effective immediately, amending portions of the August Rule. Most importantly, pursuant to the new rule, contractors administering covered information systems that are not...more
The last four years has seen a trend of increased law enforcement and regulatory investigations into financial institutions for sanctions violations and anti-money laundering, or Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA"), compliance. The New...more
The United States Department of Defense (“DoD”) recently published two new rules that impose broader obligations to safeguard information that falls within specified categories of sensitive data and to report cyber incidents...more
The "DRC Conflict Undeterminable" determination, widely employed in conflict minerals reports to date, will not be permitted for issuers (other than small companies) reporting in 2016 on activities in calendar year 2015. At...more
Last week, U.S. authorities settled criminal charges against a subsidiary of Schlumberger Ltd. and civil claims against PayPal, Inc. Federal authorities alleged that these companies violated U.S. embargoes and other economic...more
4/9/2015
/ Criminal Sanctions ,
Felonies ,
Iran ,
North Korea ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
PayPal ,
Plea Agreements ,
Popular ,
Sanctions ,
Schlumberger ,
SDN List ,
Sudan ,
Syria
On February 17, the Obama Administration announced a new U.S. export control policy for military and commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ("UAVs"). The policy, the details of which have not been released, reportedly includes...more
On July 16, 2014, the United States announced another expansion of sanctions in response to events in southern and eastern Ukraine. The United States for the first time imposed sanctions against major Russian companies and...more
Orrick and Clean Energy Pipeline have launched a series of reports dedicated to exploring investment opportunities and challenges in the U.S. renewable energy sector. In this first issue, we analyze the exciting investment...more
In response to Russia's actions relating to Crimea, the United States and the European Union have expanded their lists of sanctioned parties and their legal bases for broader sanctions. These sanctions are beginning to...more
In February 2014, the U.S. government imposed a US$115,000 penalty against Intevac, Inc., for alleged export control violations. The government's enforcement action against Intevac reflects far-reaching positions on...more
The United States and the European Union have issued sanctions measures in response to actions by Ukrainian and Russian officials. Both measures are designed to impose sanctions against individuals and entities rather than...more
On January 20, 2014, after the International Atomic Energy Agency determined that Iran had begun to meet its obligations to curtail nuclear development activities, the United States and the European Union implemented...more
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently issued an interim rule amending the applicable Defense Federal Regulation Acquisition Supplement (DFARS) related to country of origin determinations for photovoltaic (PV) devices...more
On December 31, 2013, SolarWorld Industries America Inc. filed petitions with the U.S. government seeking antidumping and countervailing (anti-subsidy) duties on U.S. imports of Chinese and Taiwanese crystalline silicon...more
The November 23 "Joint Plan of Action" regarding Iran's nuclear program (the "Agreement") contemplates that the United States and the European Union ("EU") will suspend some sanctions measures regarding Iran. This advisory...more
On November 4, 2013, the U.S. Department of Commerce ("Commerce") published changes to procedures for selecting respondents for administrative reviews of antidumping duty orders. A new sampling approach to respondent...more
As described in our April 25, 2013 International Trade & Compliance Advisory, the U.S. government is engaged in a broad export control reform initiative. On October 15, 2013, the first regulatory amendments implementing...more
Aeroflex, Inc., a U.S. producer of microelectronics devices, recently settled allegations that its exports of certain types of semiconductor devices violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”). The...more
The U.S. State and Commerce Departments have published amendments to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) as a major step in implementing changes to export...more